July 1917 to July 1918
The Seventh Army, and a journey to Germany
In July 1917 Mustafa Kemal is given command of the Seventh Army. The Seventh Army belongs to the Yıldırım Army Group, which the German general Erich von Falkenhayn is assembling at Aleppo. He does not get on with Falkenhayn. With İsmet Bey he reports to the Grand Vizier, Talat Pasha, that the army lacks men and supplies, and proposes a defensive line in Syria under Turkish command. When the proposal is rejected he resigns, and in October he returns to İstanbul.
In December he travels by train with the heir to the throne, Vahdettin, on a state visit to Germany. He visits the Western Front and tells Kaiser Wilhelm II and his generals that the Central Powers will lose the war. In the summer of 1918 he is treated for illness in Vienna and Karlovy Vary (then Karlsbad). While he is there, Mehmed V dies on 3 July 1918, and the next day Vahdettin becomes Sultan Mehmed VI.
Mustafa Kemal in a suit bought in Karlovy Vary, where he went for treatment, 1918Wikimedia Commons, Unknown author, Public domain (Mustafa Kemal in Karlsbad in 1918.jpg)
Mehmed VI, sultan from July 1918Wikimedia Commons, George Grantham Bain, Public domain (Sultan Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire.jpg)
Sources
- Andrew Mango, Atatürk (1999).
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